Amazon Kindle Fire HD tipped for $99 model [UPDATE]

Amazon seems to want to shake things up in the tablet sector, as it's rumored that the e-tailer giant will be releasing a $99 Kindle Fire HD 7-inch tablet at some point. Currently, you can get a 7-inch Kindle Fire HD for only $199, which comes with 16GB of storage, but cutting that price down by half seems like quiet the feat.

According to TechCrunch, the sub-$100 tablet will come with a Texas Instruments processor and will feature a 1280x600 resolution display, so it looks like it won't have anything too revolutionary, but we shouldn't be expecting anything ground-breaking anyway, except for maybe the price, but as far as components are concerned, expect a bottom-of-the-barrel type of device.

Of course, you can grab a regular Kindle Fire for just $159, so a $99 Kindle Fire tablet seems pretty realistic. None of the major companies have outed a $99 tablet yet, so Amazon being first to the punch could be great news for the company. However, it'll be interesting to see whether or not the tablet will sell at a loss.

Then again, $99 Android tablets already exist, but they're mostly from generic brands, and they feature components and specs that aren't too desirable to most people anyway. However, if Amazon could pull off a decent tablet at $99, it could be the start of something greater for prospective tablet buyers, and with the company's large and lucrative ecosystem, taking a loss on tablet sales wouldn't be a big deal.

UPDATE: We received word directly from Amazon that there are no plans for such a tablet: "It's not happening -- we are already at the lowest price points possible for that hardware."